


I'm Here

by trashycatarcade



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Living Together, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Matt Holt/Shiro, Sappy Ending, argument
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-16 20:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11260800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashycatarcade/pseuds/trashycatarcade
Summary: Lance and Keith are faced with the stress of a loved one’s death.





	I'm Here

“Hey, Keith, have you seen my grey sweatshirt? The one that you steal from my closet all the time? Keith!” Lance yelled, marching to their bedroom. He stopped in his tracks when he slammed the door open dramatically to find Keith typing furiously, eyes glazed over and tears running down his face. He was in fact wearing Lance’s sweatshirt, but Lance pushed that thought away to instead wonder why his boyfriend was crying.

“Hon, are you okay? What’s going on?” Lance walked to the bed and dropped down so he was sitting beside Keith. Keith leaned over to Lance and buried his head into Lance’s shoulder, he shook as a sob wracked through his body. Lance’s eyes widened and he wrapped his arms around Keith. Minutes dragged on as Keith cried and Lance tried to comfort him.

Lance was utterly surprised. Lance had only seen Keith cry a select few times and never to this extent. The first time was when Lance made Keith watch Marley and Me because Keith had never seen it. The second time was when Lance was very animatedly telling Keith a story while walking backwards on campus and tripped over a bench. Keith had laughed so hard he had cried. But now was a completely different story and Lance had no idea why he was crying.

“What’s wrong, Keith?” Lance ran a hand through Keith’s raven hair and the other boy sniffled.

“My grandma called, s-she said my mom’s in surgery. She was in a-” Keith paused to take in a deep breath, his throat felt like it was closing up and he held back another sob. “She was in a car accident and they don’t know if she’ll make it. I was looking at the bus schedule to figure out the next bus going to Des Moines.”

“Oh… Keith, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe that happened.” Lance was unsure of what to say to make the other boy feel better. His own father had died of a cancer when he was seven, but he was still walking on unfamiliar terrain.

“Just, can you buy a ticket for the next ticket leaving for Des Moines, I need to pack a bag.” Keith started to get up and away from Lance’s hold. Keith wiped his eyes and headed to the dresser.

“Keith, slow down, okay? I’ll drive you, we’ll leave first thing tomorrow. Come sit down for a minute.” Lance said, he stood up and strode up to Keith. Keith whipped away from him when Lance reached out to touch Keith’s shoulder.

“I’m not going to slow down! I need to get my things together and I need to leave as soon as possible. Not tomorrow!” Keith turned away from Lance and grabbed clothes from the drawer he had yanked open. Lance was startled by the sudden change in emotions.

“I know how you feel-” Lance started but Keith was quick to cut him off.

“Yeah? Has your mom recently been in the hospital nearly dead? No, I didn’t think so. So, just let me do this how I want to do it.” Keith snapped. Lance gaped at Keith. Lance was used to their playful bickering and the occasional argument, but he had never had this type of venom in Keith’s voice directed at him.

“In case you may have forgotten, my dad died when I was seven.” Lance bit back and crossed his arms.

“I haven’t forgotten, but you were young, it didn’t mean as much because you probably couldn’t understand what was going on.” Keith argued.

“You think I didn’t understand my dad was dieing? You think that didn’t mean anything to me because I was too young? Who the fuck do you think you are to say that?” Lance glared at Keith. Lance was seeing a side of the other boy that he didn’t think existed.

“Oh, it always has to be about you, doesn’t it?” Keith muttered and Lance just about cracked. He stormed out of the bedroom and grabbed his keys. He slammed the front door to their apartment and left the building.

…

Keith ignored the clench of his heart and willed away the tears threatening to spill. He found his duffel bag and started shoving random articles of clothing into it. He grabbed his laptop and bought a ticket for the bus leaving in two hours at eight p.m. He knew he had crossed the line with Lance, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He found his phone in the crumpled sheets of the bed and pulled up his grandma’s contact. He called her and let her know that he’d be there late that night. The trip from Madison to Des Moines took about five hours, not considering any stops. He finished packing and headed to one of the open computer labs on campus, he had to print his bus ticket. He was lucky their apartment was so close to the campus.

 

It had started raining and he popped the hood up of his sweatshirt, only to realize it wasn’t his sweatshirt, it was Lance’s. His stomach churned at the thought of his boyfriend. He was mad at himself for treating someone he loved so poorly, but he was also angry at Lance. He had walked out on him, something Lance had never done before. Whenever they had gotten into more serious arguments, Lance had been the one to make sure they worked things out, and now Lance was the one to leave their fight unresolved.

 

…

Lance drove to Shiro’s house without really thinking about it. He felt bad coming to Shiro’s house when he knew him and Matt were probably eating dinner. He hesitantly knocked on the door and felt raindrops start to fall. The door opened after a moment and Lance was stood in front of Shiro.

“Hey Lance, what’s up?” Shiro asked.

“Nothing. I’m sorry to bother you right now, I know it’s not a great time, but I really need to talk to someone.” Lance answered. Shiro looked at him in concern and opened the door wider to let Lance into his home. He brought the younger man to the living room and told him to wait there for a minute. Lance heard Shiro’s voice in the other room and then Matt’s. Shiro came back a few minutes later with a glass of water that he handed to Lance. Lance took a sip and set it down on the coffee table in front of them.

“What’s going on? You and Keith didn’t break up-”

“No, no! We just had a really heavy fight and I didn’t know how to stop it from getting worse. His mom is in the hospital and he just was saying such mean things to me? I just was trying to help and he said stuff about my dad and I got so mad. I just left because I didn’t want to keep fighting. I-I just…” Lance couldn’t keep himself from crying and Shiro wrapped his arm around Lance’s shoulder.

“I shouldn’t have left him. He was upset and I know he didn’t mean what he said but it hurt me so much.” Lance cried and Shiro frowned.

“Lance, being upset, even with how extreme this situation is, doesn’t give anyone the excuse to hurt others. It was smart of you to leave, it kept things from escalating any further. But, you should go home and talk to Keith. You should figure this out so he has someone to lean on during this difficult time, alright? After you stop crying and eat something though, I don’t want you driving while you’re upset especially now that it’s raining.” Shiro said and Lance nodded.

Shiro went back out of the room to get Lance something for him to snack on. Matt made an appearance on his way out to the grocery store and Lance said hello. Shiro brought Lance back a sandwich he had made and Lance ate it quietly. When he was done he excused himself to wash his face, he felt kind of gross after crying. Lance thanked Shiro and said goodbye, then ran out to his car. It was only drizzling now, but Lance still didn’t want to get too wet.

Lance was going to text Keith that he was coming home but realized he had never grabbed his phone before leaving. He hoped they would be able to resolve their issue and that Keith’s mom was alright. He really felt bad that he had left Keith so upset, even though Shiro said it was a good decision. Lance truly hoped Keith was alright.

By the time Lance got home he noticed a few hours had passed and it was half past eight. He unlocked the apartment door and found it odd that the lights were all off. He kicked his shoes off and went to the bedroom first. He frowned when he didn’t find Keith there and proceeded to walk around the apartment, he began to accept that Keith wasn’t there. He frantically searched for his phone and found it on the kitchen counter. He immediately dialed Keith’s number and growled in frustration when it went to voicemail after a few rings. Keith was gone.

…

Keith sat on the large greyhound bus, anxiously waiting for any notification from his grandma. The bus was only three quarters full, so Keith had ended up not sitting next to anyone. Keith’s only family was his mom and grandma, his mom had gotten pregnant right after high school and his dad had left her because of it. His mom was eighteen when he was born and still lived with his grandparents. They helped her raise Keith while she attended college but then Keith’s grandpa had a heart attack shortly after her graduation. Keith, his mom, and his grandma continued to live together until Keith left for college. He lived in the dorms for his first two years and moved into an apartment with Lance before their third year started.

He was extremely close to his mom and grandma because of this and it only made things worse. His grandma was all alone and his mom could die. He stared out the window at the passing cars and the raindrops sliding down the glass. He hated how he was feeling at the moment. He was still angry at Lance but he yearned for the other boy’s company desperately. He almost regretted leaving without talking to Lance, but he knew he had to get to the hospital as soon as he could. Keith was startled out of his thoughts when his phone vibrated in his hand signalling an incoming call. He pressed the answer button before looking at the caller i.d.

“Hello?” Keith said anxiously. He glanced around the bus but no one had spared him a glance.

“Keith, she-” His grandma’s voice was cut off by a sob and Keith didn’t need anything other than that to know that things had gone wrong.

“No.” Keith shook his head and his heartbeat picked up in panic.

“They thought she was stable and then all of a sudden she wasn’t.” His grandma explained through heavy breaths. Keith felt tears start to form and he felt his throat close up. Like something was choking him and he gasped for breath.

He was having a panic attack. Keith dropped the phone on the seat next to him without ending the call and leaned forward in his seat so his head was between his knees. He struggled to breathe and tears dripped down his face. Keith stayed in that position for a long time, trying to calm himself down but couldn’t get a grip. The knowledge that his mother was gone kept resurfacing.

When he finally sat back up he noticed a few people on the bus glance over at him and he tried to ignore their open stares. He leaned back against the bus seat and closed his eyes, his breath was still a bit ragged, but he had evened it out a little more than before. Keith blindly felt for his phone and opened his eyes to look at it. His grandma had ended the call and he had a missed call from Lance. He turned his phone off and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. Keith numbly stared out the window in attempt to distract himself from the awful ache of his heart.

…

Lance stopped at a random gas station to fill up his tank and to buy an unhealthy amount of red bull. He had made the split decision that even though Keith was probably upset with Lance and Lance was still kind of mad at Keith, he wasn’t going to abandon his boyfriend. He was going to drive to Des Moines and make sure Keith knew that Lance was there for him. He was already an hour into the drive and had tried to call Keith again, but it had gone straight to voicemail.

Lance didn’t actually know what hospital Keith’s mom was at, so he had decided he was just going to go to Keith’s past home that Keith’s mom and grandma still lived in. Lance had only been there four times, he had gone for a week with Keith the past two summers and for last thanksgiving and new years the previous year. Keith’s mom, Lucy, had been very friendly and made Lance feel welcome. Keith’s grandma didn’t like him the first time they met, but Keith had reassured him that she had warmed up to him since.

He thought about what it had been like when he had lost his dad, how bad it had affected his family. He prayed that Keith’s mom would be alright, that Keith wouldn’t go through losing his parent. Yes, Lance was young, but he clearly remembered the sound of his Mom’s broken cries the first few months. Lance’s mom wouldn’t leave her bed and Lance remembered him and his siblings staying with his Aunt Armendia for a little while because his Mom couldn’t take care of them. Lance couldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone.

Lance drove with the radio playing quietly. He kept his eyes glued to the road ahead of him, it was dark now and not a lot of people were on the road. He took a sip of red bull every so often to keep him awake. He hated to admit it to his friends, but since Keith and Lance had moved in together they liked to try and go to sleep at the same time and it often ended up being around 10:30. They had their nights when they would go out with their friends, or ended up watching movie that ran long, or other activities would keep them up. But, more often than not they were asleep fairly early and Lance was starting to feel kind of tired.

…

Keith woke up to the jolt of the bus stopping, he felt extremely disoriented and shot up from his seat. He didn’t remember falling asleep and memories from the past night took a few minutes to come flooding back to him. He quickly reached into his pocket to get his phone and turned it on. The clock on his phone read 1:47 a.m. and he groaned a little at the brightness of the screen. The other passengers of the bus were beginning to shuffle out into the bus station. Keith noticed the multiple missed calls from Lance at varying times through the night and ignored them to call his grandma. They both had pulled themselves together since the last time they talked and she told him she had just gotten home, but had to return to the hospital in the morning. He told her to get some sleep and that he would find a cab to get home.

He did just that and finally got to his former home at about a quarter past two in the morning. Keith was not surprised that his grandma hadn’t gone to sleep and was waiting for him on the front porch. Keith dropped his duffel bag on the steps and sought out her outstretched arms. The didn’t say a word to each other, neither of them cried, just held onto each other. Keith felt a little more grounded in his grandma’s embrace, only to be reminded of the reason for it and to spiral out again.

They stayed like that for a long while until Keith’s grandma gently patted his back and they pulled away from each other. Keith helped his grandma up and grabbed his forgotten duffle bag, then they walked into the house. Keith walked his grandma to her room and gave her one more hug before heading to what used to be his bedroom. Most of his things had been cleared out of it except for his bed and some of the other furniture. He set his bag down in the corner of the room, turned on the lamp on the desk beside the bed, and dug through his bag to find a pair of sweatpants he had packed. He mindlessly changed and then settled into bed after turning the lamp back off.

Keith tried not to think about the fact that his mother had died only a few hours ago. The last time he had talked to her was three days ago and it was only for a few minutes because he was heading to class. With that thought, Keith realized he would be missing class tomorrow and for who knows how many days. Keith felt empty, especially because he was no longer used to sleeping alone. The bed felt far too big for a twin sized bed and Keith wrapped his arms around himself.

He was just drifting off when he was awoken by a loud vibrating from his phone against the hardwood floor. Keith jumped up and reached for his discarded jeans and retrieved his phone from their back pocket. He was surprised that Lance was calling him at what was now a little after three. With a moment of hesitation, Keith answered the phone.

“Hey, I’m kinda outside your house right now and I didn’t want to ring the doorbell, but someone’s home because there’s a car in the driveway and-” Keith hung up and quickly got to the front door and opened it to see that Lance was in fact there. Keith ran forward and basically jumped into Lance’s arms. Lance let out a startled yelp and stumbled back from the weight of the other boy. He ended up tripping backwards and fell half on the cement walkway and half on the grass of the front lawn. Keith gasped and looked to make sure Lance was alright.

“You drove here?” Keith asked.

“Yeah,” Lance nodded. Keith surged forward and pressed his lips to Lance’s desperately. Keith pulled away and nuzzled the other boy’s neck. Lance responded by wrapping his arms around his boyfriend tightly in assurance that he was there.

“Your mom, is she…?” Lance trailed off, unsure how to continue the sentence delicately. Keith shook his head, no. Lance’s grip only tightened and Keith sniffled a little.

“I’m here, okay. I’m not going anywhere.” Lance mumbled, pressing a kiss to Keith’s head. Lance carefully sat up and lifted Keith up, silently glad he had been going to the gym lately and didn’t fall back to the ground. Keith wrapped his legs around Lance’s waist and kept his head hidden between Lance’s shoulder and neck. Lance carried Keith back into the house and to his bedroom, thankful he remembered the layout of the house well enough to get them there. He set Keith gently down on his bed and tried to stand back up, only to have Keith pull him down into bed.

“Don’t leave me, please.” Keith looked panicked and Lance cupped Keith’s face with one hand.

“I have to go shut the front door, okay? I couldn’t exactly when I was carrying you, I’ll be right back.” Lance explained gently. Keith nodded and released Lance. Lance walked quickly to the door, shut it, and returned to Keith, also shutting the bedroom door quietly. Lance kicked his shoes off and realized he hadn’t brought his bag in, so he decided he would be sleeping in his boxers. He slid his jeans off and set them beside his shoes. Lance climbed into bed beside Keith and Keith immediately got comfortable laying against Lance.

“You wanna talk?” Lance asked after a few minutes.

“In the morning.” Keith answered, his voice muffled by his face currently being pressed against Lance’s chest. Lance accepted the answer easily and brought his hand up to gently run it through his boyfriend’s hair. Keith sighed and wiggled a little closer to Lance.

Lance was still kind of awake from drinking energy drinks for five hours and used that to his advantage to continue to comfort Keith until Lance felt his breathing even out signalling he had fallen asleep.

…

Lance woke up from the sun’s bright rays on his face from the window above the bed. Keith was still snuggled closely to Lance, but was awake and staring at the wall across the room blankly.

“Keith, hon, you okay?” Lance rubbed Keith’s back a little and Keith looked over to Lance slowly, his trance broken.

“No, not really.” Keith replied honestly, “I’m feeling pretty fucking sad right now.”

“It gets better.” Lance said and Keith gave him a dull look. “I know it feels like it won’t right now, but it will, I promise.”

“She was too young. That may sound weird for me to say but it’s true. I miss her so much already, I don’t know how I’m going to make it without her. She’s been my best friend forever and now she’s just gone. How can a person be there one minute and just be gone the next? I don’t get what she did to deserve it?” Keith said, feeling choked up but pushing that feeling down.

“The universe works in mysterious ways, I don’t know why things happen they just do. Your mom didn’t deserve this, you don’t deserve this.”

“You didn’t deserve what I said to you last night either.” Keith looked into Lance’s eyes with regret.

“You were upset, I get it. I shouldn’t have walked out on you, that was shitty of me.” Lance said, “We’re gonna get through this, I’ll be here, I’m not going to walk out again. I’m here.”

Keith nodded and felt like crying again. He scooted up a little to kiss Lance before getting out of bed.

“I gotta go talk to my grandma, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Keith walked out of his bedroom to find his grandma already sitting at the kitchen table. She was on the phone and had a cup of coffee in front of her. Keith beelined to the coffee machine and poured himself a mug. He sat down across from his grandma and waited for her to get off the phone. It took a few minutes until she was done and Keith had drank half his cup.

“That was the hospital, I’m heading over there in an hour.” She told him.

“I’ll come with.” Keith said and she nodded.

“I noticed you had a visitor when I came to check on you this morning.” She said and took a sip of her coffee.

“Y-yeah, that’s what I was going to tell you. He, well- we got in a little argument last night and I left without him. He drove here and showed up at about three.” Keith explained.

“He isn’t mistreating you now, is he?” Her eyes narrowed and she looked down the hall to Keith’s closed door.

“No, no grandma. He wouldn’t do that. Ever. I kind of started the argument anyways.” Keith looked away from her in embarrassment.

“Good. I’m gonna go get ready.” She said and got up from the table. Keith was relieved she hadn’t brought up the elephant in the room, having already talked to Lance he felt like he wouldn’t have been able to keep himself together.

He refilled his mug, poured one for Lance, and walked back to his room. He stopped before opening the door, he heard Lance’s voice from the other side and he hesitated. Keith shrugged and opened the door and Lance glanced over at him, he was on the phone.

“I’ll tell him. No. No! Let me ask, hold on.” Lance frowned, “My mom wants to talk to you but it’s totally fine if you don’t want to because-”

“It’s okay.” Keith set mugs down on the desk by the bed and held his hand out for the phone. Lance handed him the phone and Keith sat down beside Lance on the bed.

“The blue mug is yours, by the way.” Keith said before putting the phone up to his ear and saying a quiet ‘hi’.

“Hello dear, how are you holding up? Is your grandma doing okay?” Lance’s mom asked right away.

“She’s okay, I’m fine.” Keith answered.

“I’m very sorry about what’s happened, Keith. You know you can talk to me whenever, right? About anything, I’m here for you whenever and so is Lance, even though he can be a little shit sometimes.” She said calmly.

“Yeah, I know. Thank you, Ms. Sanchez.” Keith replied.

“Things are going to be difficult for a while, but give it some time and you’ll get back into the groove of things. Hopefully you find a better way to cope than I did, dios mio I was a bit of a wreck. If things start getting really bad, you tell someone. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.” Lance’s mom said seriously.

“I-I won’t.” Keith bit his lip to keep from getting too emotional.

“I’ll let you go, dear. I love you and will be praying for you and your grandma. Tell Lance I’ll talk to him later.”

“I will, thanks Ms. Sanchez.” Keith hung up the phone and tossed it to Lance who had been watching Keith curiously. Keith told him, “I’m heading to the hospital soon with my grandma.”

“I can come with, if you want.” Lance offered.

“Okay.” Keith smiled gratefully.

Lance stretched his hand out to Keith and Keith took it. Keith held on tightly, using Lance as the anchor keeping him there. Keith grabbed his coffee and leaned into Lance’s shoulder. Lance took a sip from his own mug and Keith did the same slowly. Keith’s bottom lip trembled as he thought about what was in store for the next few days and the rest of his life without his mom. Lance noticed and squeezed Keith’s hand.

“I’m here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Lol remember when I said the next fic lighter and more chill... uh...whoops 
> 
> I am in the middle of writing a more chill fic that I thought I would be posting next but I got sidetracked wrote this today instead. Also how cute is Lance's mom tho! I like writing her as nice.. I also might make a second part to this but who knows.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
